Seasonal, healthy and delicious vegetarian recipes, with the occasional cake thrown in for good measure!

Butternut Squash, Hazelnut and Goat Cheese Salad

This is one of my easy go to dinners when I have overindulged or need a good energy boost. It works well for lunches and dinners alike, or dinner and leftovers taken to work for lunch the next day. I love making salads that aren’t just lettuce leaves, cucumber and tomatoes! This is great vegetarian food that is filling, delicious and packed with vitamins and minerals.

I was very excited on Tuesday Cook Vegetarian retweeted my recipe for Spiced Apple and Fudge Cake. I am new to twitter so couldn’t believe that one of the first tweets I have ever sent was retweeted by them. It’s also great as it meant people who wouldn’t normally get to read Hermione’s Pantry got to see it. I am really going to try very hard to publish one or two recipes per week as I know I have been really slack and have a back catalogue incase on some weeks I am too busy to write one with work or sewing curtains.

This is another recipe for one but can be easily doubled, tripled… to make it a family meal or a great dish to take to a pot luck summer dinner or barbeque.

Butternut squash, hazelnut and goat cheese salad

Ingredients

1/2 butternut squash (peeled and cubed)

1 small onion (cut into eighths)

4 garlic cloves

handful of sage leaves

75g kale

50g wholewheat giant cous cous

1/2 tsp vegetable stock diluted in 200ml water

30g goats cheese

15g hazelnuts

lemon zest

lemon extra virgin olive oil

pinch of sumac

salt and pepper

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Place the butternut squash, onion, garlic cloves, sage leaves, salt and pepper into a baking tray and cover with olive oil. Place in the oven bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

After the butternut squash has been cooking for 15 minutes put the couscous in a pan with the olive oil and cook on a low heat until they just start to brown. Add the stock and cook for six minutes or until the couscous has cooked. While the couscous is cooking place the kale in a separate pan, cover with water and boil for five minutes until cooked.

Drain the kale and put it at the bottom of your bowl/plate. Drain the couscous and put it back in the pan and mix through the roasted butternut squash and onions. Place this on top of the kale. Crumble the goat cheese over the top and the hazelnuts. Add some lemon zest, chopped sage and pinch of sumac. Finally drizzle with lemon olive oil.